Anchorage joins the list of ambush-type shootings of police

[Matthew Carberry]

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/1088641.html

Drive-by of an officer filling out reports in his car.  Officer is okay for now, lucky they didn't use a rifle.

More of a crime of opportunity than a real ambush to my mind but still, sure seems like it's going around.  Wonder if it will turn out to be a statistically sig. problem nationwide or just a bunch of copycats?

[Perd Hapley]

When/where were the other ambushes? 

[Balog]

We had a couple in Seattle recently, including four cops killed all at once.

[Perd Hapley]

The one where the guy walked into the coffee shop and executed four cops, then walked out?  I don't see much similarity between the two cases.   

[Balog]

Unprompted attacks on cops, where the cop is not in contact with the shooter before the attack starts. Seems pretty similar to me.

[AZRedhawk44]

When/where were the other ambushes? 

There was also one back in PA or OH somewhere.  Kid with an AK and Glock 21 worried that TIKIWIKI happened after the dems won office in '08.  Shot up some police officers and had to be put down.  I think he staged a trap 911 call.

[Fjolnirsson]

It's going to get worse. Thugs who hate cops are seeing how much attention the3se guys are getting, and thinking it's a good way to gain a "rep". Look at the school shooters. The media devotes endless hours of camera time to degenerate, worthless thugs, so we should not be surprised when others try to emulate them.

[Perd Hapley]

Unprompted attacks on cops, where the cop is not in contact with the shooter before the attack starts. Seems pretty similar to me.

Good point. 

[MillCreek]

There was also the murder of Seattle police officer Tim Brenton on Halloween night 2009.  He and his partner were in a parked patrol unit when he was shot and killed by an assailant driving by. 

[Monkeyleg]

Is it just me, or does it seem that it took a long time for this to spread to so-called "safer" cities? I remember decades ago that the police were afraid to go into Cabrini Green in Chicago because of gang bangers shooting at them.

[oldfart]

I have an idea that it's going to get worse.  Legislators pass unpopular laws that the police have to enforce... whether they agree with them or not.  Citizens rarely see the legislator who voted for the law but he sees the cops every day.  The anger may be misdirected but it's still deadly. 

I don't think I would care to be a LEO in the coming years.

[jackdanson]

Yeah I remember hearing about one or two of these a year in St. Louis as long as I can remember.  I don't think it has been happening any more than usual.

[oldfart]

Maybe it hasn't increased much in St. Louis but it seems to be on a rise everywhere else.  Areas that have been considered "safe" are now in the cross-hairs and so are their cops.  Aside from the deliberateness of the shootings, the fact that they're happening in cities and towns that have very little of this sort of thing is troubling.  I'm no great fan of the Po-po but even I realize their value as a buffer between the bad guys and the general public.  If the police ever have to become super-mititaristic as a form of self-defense their only logical next step is to sink deeper into the "us-vs-them" philosophy with the general public being the "them."

[roo_ster]

Is it just me, or does it seem that it took a long time for this to spread to so-called "safer" cities? I remember decades ago that the police were afraid to go into Cabrini Green in Chicago because of gang bangers shooting at them.

The social engineers bulldozed the dense housing projects and built sec 8 housing in the 'burbs or gave vouchers.  It disrupts the crime for a short time, but the thugs eventually re-establish the lines of commo and get back to old ways.  Memphis, TN was studied on this very topic.

[Sergeant Bob]

I have an idea that it's going to get worse.  Legislators pass unpopular laws that the police have to enforce... whether they agree with them or not.  Citizens rarely see the legislator who voted for the law but he sees the cops every day.  The anger may be misdirected but it's still deadly. 

I don't think I would care to be a LEO in the coming years.

I doubt the scumbags doing this are really too worried about what laws are being passed.

[Balog]

I doubt the scumbags doing this are really too worried about what laws are being passed.

This^^

The untermenschen who killed the four Lakewood cops was a child molester who thought he was Jesus. I doubt he was reacting in outrage to the political climate.

[jackdanson]

If I remember correctly there were under/around 50 shooting deaths of police officers in 2009.  Obviously they weren't all ambushes.  I hardly believe there is any kind of trending increase in "ambushes", considering they are so rare in the first place.

[Ex-MA Hole]

People with low self esteem and feel that they don't matter who want to matter...it's a bad combo...

It's going to get worse. Thugs who hate cops are seeing how much attention the3se guys are getting, and thinking it's a good way to gain a "rep". Look at the school shooters. The media devotes endless hours of camera time to degenerate, worthless thugs, so we should not be surprised when others try to emulate them.

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

I don't see a trend here.

  Legislators pass unpopular laws that the police have to enforce... whether they agree with them or not.  Citizens rarely see the legislator who voted for the law but he sees the cops every day

I hope you aren't trying to insinuate the "just following orders" tripe. If it's an unpopular or unconstitutional law, cops in lockstep can decide not to enforce it. Cops do selective enforcement every day.